When I talk, I usually (though certainly not always) use words, as ya do. Somehow, it gets me in trouble with other Americans. This is why I avoid talking to them. Not that that is very hard to do; Americans don’t travel much, at least not outside of...
Considering how many years I have been living abroad, and how many countries I’ve lived in, it should come as no surprise that I have been acquainted with more than a few expat communities. No matter what country/city I’ve found myself in, there have been a fair few...
Do you find it hard to speak English in public? And every time you try to do something about it, you either get stuck or can’t even get started. Don’t worry, you are absolutely not alone. The comedian Jerry Seinfeld once famously pointed out that public speaking was...
I’m from the United States, and I’d heard of them as a kid. I remember wondering why we didn’t have them there. I even once asked my mom about it, and she didn’t seem to know what I was talking about. Instead of just shrugging and letting it go, I...
I’ve been busy with a video storytelling course run by the team that makes the YouTube channel Yes Theory https://www.youtube.com/@YesTheory . I didn’t have to, but I accepted the challenge of posting a video on YouTube every day for 30 days. That’s insane. You can...
As I reckon y’all know by now, I’m an online tutor, and as such, I I rely on technology to do my job. Without my computer and internet connection, not to mention my smartphone, I wouldn’t be able to connect with my students. That said, as a small business owner,...
I’ve just uploaded a new cartoon video to YouTube about a new booklet I’ve just released called The Skint Expat’s Key To English. Check out the video here if you like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zOK9cEY1c Or else you can go into Amazon Kindle and find the...
I was just looking at some social media posts, and one struck me as almost impossibly naïve. A little more than a year ago, I wouldn’t have put “almost” in that sentence, but back then, I lived in China, a country ruled by an authoritarian regime; a nanny...
I'm still thinking about getting back to the Americas. (I say “still” though I don’t know if anyone reading this ever knew that was on the table in the first place.)(Actually, I shouldn’t talk out loud about these ideas. Evidently, I tend to come up with...
I have been an expat for more than 30 years now. I’m originally from the United States, though at this point that hardly matters. In that time, I’ve played music with bands and recorded and released solo music, I’ve been an English teacher for most of that time, and now I’m doing a blog about all of it.